Neither Here nor There
Rating: Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe, by Bill Bryson. Perennial (1992), 235 pages. This was a gift from somebody who remembered that I enjoyed Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, a comedic account of his hike along the Appalachian Trail. Neither...
The Darkest Child
(This review first appeared in November 2006) Rating: The Darkest Child, by Delores Phillips. Soho Press (2004), 387 pages. This is a very well-written and disturbing (in a good way) novel that does not deserve its ugly cover. The boring stock photo of a...
The Glass of Time
Rating: The Glass of Time: The Secret Life of Miss Esperanza Gorst, Narrated by Herself, by Michael Cox. W.W. Norton & Company (2008), 575 pages. In Victorian England, young Esperanza Gorst, a twenty-year-old orphan, applies for a position as personal...
The Great Mortality
Rating: The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, by John Kelly. HarperCollins (2005), 356 pages. Thirty million people dead in Europe, a third of the Middle East wiped out, and China...About Us
The Book Shark began as an independent book review website created by Cindy Pinto and Donna Long in 2002.
From the beginning our goal was not only to write great reviews, but also to recognize the most well-written books we read each year with an award...
Gustine Awards
The Gustine Awards were named in honor of the main character in one of our favorite books—The Dress Lodger, by Sheri Holman. Awards have been given out yearly since 2002 in three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and memoir...
Cover Art
A book’s cover is as important as the writing within it. We are aware that this may offend some authors who have toiled for years on their books and believe their words are the only thing that matters...
Reader Reviews
What’s the best or worst book you’ve ever read? What’s the most recent book that you’ve had a strong reaction to? Send us your thoughts, and we’ll post them in this spot.